Air Peace aborts Lagos-Owerri flight over cabin smoke alarm

• No Smoke Detected, Says Operator

Air Peace airlines yesterday aborted its Lagos-Owerri flight mid air after a passenger raised an alarm over perceiving smoke in the cabin area.The aircraft, after making a safe landing at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos, investigation confirmed the alarm as false, says the airlines. 
   
Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Chris Iwarah, in a statement Friday, said the Owerri-bound flight had to return to Lagos as a precautionary measure and in line with the airline’s zero-risk policy. Iwarah explained that the aborted flight landed smoothly in Lagos with passengers on board maintaining their calm, but “checks by Air Peace engineer confirmed that there was no smoke anywhere in the aircraft.” 
 
According to the airlines, “We confirm that our 9 a.m. Lagos-Owerri flight returned to base on Friday after one of our esteemed guests informed our crew that he was smelling smoke in the cabin.”Although nothing indicated in the flight deck that there was anything wrong with the aircraft, our crew decided to return to base as a precautionary measure and in compliance with our zero-risk policy.
 
“The checks confirmed that there was neither smoke nor any other fault with the aircraft. Despite the assurances of our engineers that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the aircraft, we decided to transfer our valued guests to another aircraft to enable our teams do another round of checks in line with our high safety standard,” the statement read in part.
 
Air Peace, however, commended its guests for their calm disposition and cooperation while the checks lasted. It encouraged the customers to always feel free to share anything they notice in the flight operations with them, as critical stakeholders of the Air Peace family.In another development, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority has renewed the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of the carrier after subjecting its operations to months of rigorous audit.
 
The AOC signed by the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Usman Muhtar, said Air Peace was authorised to undertake scheduled, cargo and charter operations. Iwarah said it confirmed the sustenance of the high standard of Air Peace’s flight operations.The airline assured that it would continue to place the safety of its guests and crew above any other consideration.